National Portrait Gallery and Scottish Ballet cut ties with BP
It comes despite BP’s chief executive, Bernard Looney, making efforts to reposition the company as a greener institution. This month he sped up those plans, saying BP…
BP to end 30-year deal with National Portrait Gallery amid activist pressure
In an announcement this morning, BP said it was reviewing “its partnerships and initiatives to ensure activity is aligned to its new strategy”, adding it was looking…
Why Mary Seacole made Florence Nightingale furious
In the aftermath of the Crimean War, and until her death in 1881, it’s no exaggeration to say that Mary Seacole, the Jamaican middle-aged widow who volunteered…
How your family photograph can end up in the National Portrait Gallery
For 166 years the National Portrait Gallery has displayed paintings of Britain’s most important figures, from Henry VIII to James Cook to Winston Churchill. They could now…
Tudors: Passion, Power and Politics, Holburne, review: the secret lives of long-ago England
I don’t often experience the urge to run my hand over a doublet, not least because that thickly-padded, silk-slashed chestwear was last in fashion 400 years ago….
Duchess of Cambridge dares and dazzles on her 40th birthday
A source said the Duchess worked in collaboration with photographer Paolo Roversi, sharing her vision via video call before they met at Kew Gardens for a shoot…
Portrait Artist of the Year, review: Barry Humphries was the very model of wit in this vibrant finale
It’s hard to think of a better sitter for Sky Arts’ Portrait Artist of the Year final than Barry Humphries. The artist formerly known as Dame Edna,…
‘I jilted a Royal artist.. so he called me Ageing Dancer in my portrait’
The five-foot high painting hung for several years in Mansion House in Doncaster before a disagreement between Doncaster council and Hutchinson resulted in the artist taking it…
Works by royal portrait painter put up for sale by one of his former models
The five-foot high painting hung for several years in Mansion House in Doncaster before a disagreement between Doncaster council and Hutchinson resulted in the artist taking it…